Friday, January 13, 2006

Multi Level Marketing Nightmare

This is a rant - no thanks to Andrew's email and the conversation with Keith. Back in the late 80's, while I was still in LA., my brother and I stumbled (more like suckered) into a Pyramid Marketing scheme known as "NSA" (National Safety Associates). We ended up peddling air/water filters to as many of our friends, friend's friends, and their friend's friend's friends as possible - get the picture? Soon, it felt like we had entered bizarro world (as a kid I read Superman) of the cheesiest type of sales people you could think of. We even attended this big NSA event at one of the downtown hotels that showcased ordinary people who were transformed into million dollar machines - a huge "pep and pump" talk to make the underlings sell more. I remember sitting their among the throngs of well wishers wanting to hop on the next get rich scheme . . . "Hmm, I wonder how these guys make money . . . really? No really, how do they do it?" Needless to say, I have left the organization and have since dumped the water and air filter biz.

Fast forward 15 years, out of the blue, pretty much out of nowhere a "out-of-touch" friend emails me this "Hi, how have you been doing? I heard . . . blah, blah, blah . . . bait, hook, line, sinker . . . have you ever considered working out of home?" It turned out that this "out-of-touch" friend (out of touch with reality and common sense) was peddling health products and more importantly (for himself) a multi level marketing scheme that required for him to get people onboard his wagon and the wagon of the guy on his upline (aka. "His Mentor"). All of this was fine until, "out-of-touch" (for the remainder of this rant this is how I will affectionately refer to "used-to-be-friend") decided to kick up the steam a little - I think he realized that I wasn't buying his sensitive and understanding baloney regarding the "future-I-could-have" and the "you-can-be-financially-independent" bunk after that. He pulled out one of the dirtiest tricks . . . the "my-associates-and-I-are-Christians-now-can-we-meet-with-you?" Alright, I lost it. I wanted to give him the "I am your worst nightmare" speech with theatrics, but fortunately with some wit and care I dismissed him as quickly as he began emailing me. What is the deal with that? Do these guys know that when they sell their souls, life stinks after? "Out-of-touch" even tried to get another friend onboard using an even lower tactic - our mutual friend had serious health problems and "out-of-touch" tried to peddle his meddle to her using her crutch as his treasure! Times like this, I wish I were a sniper. "Out-of-touch" you need to get your act together!

On another note, for the Mary Kay dealers, check this Mary Kay Survivors Rehab group.